Undressing Vanessa
Time 16.00
Location Cineworld
Duration 22 mins
Undressing Vanessa is a deconstruction of one of Australia's best known drag queens, Vanessa Wagner. In many ways she is an anti-drag queen; she allows her sideburns to show, she rejects expensive dresses favouring the pre-loved glamour of second-hand op-shop numbers and doesn't take herself seriously as a woman. Vanessa Wagner is a complex construction; she is a man playing a man playing a woman and as such subverts the usual drag paradigm. She does not lip sync to pop songs in gay clubs; instead, she uses the platform she has created to make her politics heard, to give a voice to the disenfranchised and to agitate for change, in head-to-toe 70’s camp costume. Underneath the frivolity and fun lies a sobering reality that belies her zany exterior – when Vanessa is undressed we see that all is not what it may appear to be…
Country of Origin Australia
Category Short List
Date of Film 2009
